The fact that the Belgian steel industry was hit exceptionally hard by the steel crisis of the late 1990s and early 2000s has been mentioned several times on this website. This "décaperie" (pickling) was no exception. Decapage, or pickling, is the application of a chemical process to create a stainless steel end product.

Until 2007, this factory continued to operate under the name "Carinox." However, in 2007, it fell prey to the expansionist frenzy of the Indian industrialist Mittal, who took over the factory. Like many of his acquisitions, this sealed the factory's fate. In 2009, barely two years after the takeover, it was announced that the pickling plant would be 'mothballed'. Production would be halted for two years. The works council claimed that a permanent closure would certainly never occur. Stainless steel, after all, was not ArcelorMittal's core business. The group had already indicated that activity at this site was not a priority.